MSU's tight ends find end zone

October 13, 2011

Mississippi State has found it difficult in recent years to get the tight ends involved in the offense.
A tight end catching a pass for the Bulldogs isn't very common especially not for touchdowns.
In MSU's 21-3 win over UAB last weekend, the tight ends accounted for two of the three touchdowns.
When the Bulldogs do go to the tight end, it's normally to senior Marcus Green.
Green has caught seven passes this season for 110 yards and one touchdown. His one touchdown came against the Blazers as he made an impressive catch to score the Bulldog first touchdown of the game. The touchdown was Green's, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, first since the 2009 Egg Bowl.
Since coming back from his injury, Green has been progressing and MSU head coach Dan Mullen notices that.
"Marcus Green is continually improving," said Mullen. "We knew he was a talented player but he's missed a full year of football. Every week he's going to be better and better."
Redshirt freshmen Brandon Hill and Malcolm Johnson are behind Green on the depth chart but both have made some contributions this season.
Hill has only one catch this season which was a 3-yard gain at Auburn, and Johnson got his first NCAA action last Saturday. Against UAB, Johnson had only one catch, but that one catch was a 20-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
Hill and Johnson are being worked into the system slowly, but that's because of their age and how much they are able to grasp in practice.
"The other two tight ends are younger players," said Mullen. "They are continually developing week-in and week-out and the stronger weeks they have in practice, the stronger you usually see them perform on game day."
With Green and Johnson accounting for two touchdowns on Saturday, it would be easy to think all is well and good at the position, but Mullen sees that they can do better and wasn't completely pleased with their performance.
"They were both solid," said Mullen. "They were not great but they not awful, so they did a pretty good job. They are not at our champion level but they were not terrible."